Freaky Weeky
by See Them Llamas Run
Summary: Ryou and Ichigo hate each other. Switching bodies could be the perfect opportunity...for revenge! DISCONTINUED unless I have a sudden change of heart. Sorry.
1. An Average Day at the Cafe

Hi! This is Super Llama Chick! I'm going to edit my story, since all the chapters accidentally ended up in one. I'm not going to post up chapter six again until I finish it, which I should do pretty soon!

I'd really like to thank all my reviewers for being so nice! I was kind of bored of writing this, but when I read your nice messages, it made me want to write like crazy! I'll try to update this as often as possible!

**Freaky Weeky**

Chapter One—An Average Day at the Café

"SHIROGANE!"

Ryou sighed. What did she want _now_? The dumb strawberry was being more annoying than usual today.

"Shirogane!" she shrieked again. "Shi! Ro! Gane!"

Ryou sighed again and walked out into the dining area of the café. Everything looked pretty normal—Minto was sitting around drinking tea, Purin was performing for tips, Retasu was breaking stuff, Zakuro was scaring customers, and Keiichiro was hiding out someplace so he wouldn't have to deal with everything. _It figures._

Oh, and Ichigo was complaining. "Shirogane! Minto's being lazy, Purin's being annoying, Zakuro-san is being rude to the customers, and Retasu is being clumsy!" Her coworkers shot annoyed glances at her, except for Purin who was too busy doing back flips to notice.

Ryou shrugged. "So?"

"Grrr! Stop acting like such a smart aleck, Shirogane!"

The blonde sighed for the third time that day. "Did you _want _something, or did you just call me so you could whine more?"

Ichigo scowled. "Ten dollars an hour is _SO _not worth working my butt off everyday!"

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "Are you asking for a raise?"

"Well…yeah!" Ichigo began playing with a string where her dress was coming undone, as she had suddenly become very nervous. "I-I mean…I _am _the one that does most of the work around here, so…"

"Ichigo, what makes you think I'd give you a raise when all you do is whine twenty-four seven?"

Ichigo's face began turning red with anger. "Sh-Shirogane, you…GAAA! I HATE YOU! WHY ARE YOU SUCH A-A-A BIG MEANIE HEAD!"

Retasu cleared her throat. "Um, gomen for interrupting, but Ichigo-san, it appears that you, um, well…"

Ichigo didn't listen. "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS BEING SUCH A JERK? HUH SHIROGANE? WHY? WHAT DID _I _EVER DO TO YOU?"

"Ichigo…" Minto started.

"Not now Minto! Why are you bugging me at a time like this? Why don't you just drink your tea and—"

"Alright, _fine_," Minto said, going back to drinking her tea.

"Shirogane, I _demand_ a raise, or else I'm gonna—"

Ryou sighed yet again and pointed to her head. "Momomiya, you have…"

"N-Nani?" Ichigo felt on top of her head. Her eyes widened. _Ears? _"NYAAAAAA!" she screamed as she ran out of the room, hoping none of the customers had seen her cat ears.

Ryou smirked. "Baka-ichigo."

She poked her head back in the room. "I am NOT a dumb strawberry, you big JERK!" She disappeared again.

Ryou rolled his eyes. Where was _Keiichiro_ while all this was happening? Hiding out in the kitchen?

"Everyone! I made cake!" the brunette announced as he marched out of the kitchen.

_Of course._

"I think I'll go…do research or something," Ryou said, slipping out of the dining area and heading toward the staircase that led to his room. When he got there turned on the computer and began trying to figure out the aliens' whereabouts, although at the moment his mind wasn't on his work.

_Stupid girl_. Ryou tapped his foot in annoyance just _thinking_ about Ichigo. She was so frustrating. Although she had just become a Mew a few weeks ago, she was already getting on his nerves. Ryou was just trying to do his job, but she always had to complain about something or other. Why couldn't she just go along with Project Mew Mew and serve people at the café like normal people would? Why did she have to make such a big deal over every little thing?

And _why_ couldn't he stop thinking about her?

Ryou hit himself in the head. "Stop it," he told himself. Sure, she was cute, but she was a whiny annoying idiot, and the only thing she really cared about was that Aoyama kid.

_Masaya Aoyama._

Ryou's foot tapped faster. Aoyama was all she wanted. He was all she ever talked about. Heck, she pretty much ate, slept, and breathed him. What was so great about him anyway? What did he have that Ryou didn't?

"Why do I even care?" Ryou asked himself. He sighed again and tried to focus on his work. All of this superhero stuff was going to his brain.

………………

"Agh! He's such a jerk! Can you believe it? He thinks he can talk to _me_ like that? Ugh! The nerve!"

Retasu sighed, as she was beginning to pick up the habit from the girls' employer. The two girls were walking home from work together and the subject of Shirogane had come up, much to the green-haired one's dismay. "Well, Ichigo-san, maybe he has logical reasons to act like he does."

Ichigo scoffed. "Shirogane? Logical? Yeah, right! He's _blonde_, Retasu. I mean, no offense to any blonde you might know, but he's _such _a stupid moron. He doesn't think, he just does stupid stuff!"

"I always thought," Retasu said, "that in order to be a scientist, you'd have to be at least fairly intelligent."

Ichigo blushed, obviously humiliated. "Well, he's still a jerk. I don't understand why you have a crush on him."

Now it was Retasu's turn to blush. "Sh-Shirogane-kun is not my crush, I—I just have a lot of respect for him," she tried to explain.

"You know," Ichigo said with a smile, "you two would make a really cute couple."

"Ichigo-san!" Retasu said nervously. "Shirogane-kun is only a friend and…he…"

"He…?" Ichigo asked when her friend didn't finish her sentence.

"He…doesn't even know I exist."

"Retasu! That's not true. He _does_ know you exist and he likes you a lot!"

"But only as a friend."

Ichigo wasn't sure what to say. She had no proof that Shirogane liked her green-haired friend and it was best not to put her hopes up until she got any. If there was any at all. She hated to admit it, but Ichigo knew Ryou probably didn't realize Retasu liked him and _did_ think of her as nothing but a friend. So there was no proof—unless Ichigo _made_ some proof. Yes, she liked that idea. Without realizing it, a smile began to spread across the catgirl's face as she planned out what she could do to…"make proof".

"Ichigo-san…?"

Ichigo snapped back into reality. "Oh, uh, hey Retasu! I have to get home, so, bye!" She took off toward her house so that she could get busy with her plan.

"Um, bye," Retasu said, confused.

Ichigo was almost to her house, when she ran into someone. "Ya!" she yelped. "Gomen nasai!"

"No, it's my fault, I—oh, hi Momomiya-san."

Ichigo's heart began to beat a million miles per second as she realized whom she had bumped into. "A-Aoyama-kun! I—um, hi!"

"Konbanwa," he said with a smile.

"Y-you too!"

"So how was work today?" he asked.

Ichigo groaned. "_Horrible_! My boss is such a meanie! I can't stand him!"

Masaya began to walk her the rest of the way home. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"You have no idea how terrible he is, Aoyama-kun! I'm the only one who ever does any work in the whole café, and he won't tell anyone else to work or even give me a raise! It's so annoying! He just ignores me and treats me like I'm some sort of tool or something," she whined, not adding that he treated her like a 'weapon', as that might give away her identity as a Mew Mew.

"I see," Masaya said. "And have you told him how you feel?"

"How I feel?" Ichigo said confusedly. "What do you mean?"

The brunette smiled. "Ichigo-san, I don't know this guy, but I'm not sure he's as bad as you tell me he is. I mean, how is he going to know you're mad at him if you don't tell him?"

"But…I get mad at him everyday…"

"But do you tell him _why_ you're mad? He probably doesn't even know. Maybe if you tell him he'll stop."

"Hm," Ichigo said thoughtfully. "Maybe you're right, Aoyama-kun."

"Well," Masaya said as they came to Ichigo's house, "I guess I'll see you a school on Monday. Bye."

"Goodbye, Aoyama-kun!" Ichigo waved as her crush walked away, and she began thinking about what he said. "He's right," she said to herself once he was out of sight. "Tomorrow I'll tell Shirogane what's on my mind. And…maybe help him realize what's on the mind of one of my friends…"


	2. An Eventful Night at the Cafe

**Chapter Two—An Eventful Night at the Café**

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Ryou mumbled, not taking his eyes off his work.

Keiichiro entered the blonde's room. "Ryou," he said softly.

He looked up. "Yes?"

"Perhaps you should go to sleep now," the ponytailed man said. "It's one AM."

Ryou nodded. "In a few minutes."

Keiichiro sighed. "Well, I'm going home. Good night, Ryou."

Ryou nodded again as his friend left the room. Of course he was right. Ryou was a workaholic; everyone knew it. He needed to at least get a good nights rest, but that didn't seem like an option right now. And this time, it wasn't because of his work. Every spare moment, every second he didn't spend concentrating on his work, he was thinking about that girl. _That girl._ He wasn't even sure why. He stopped his work for a minute to ask himself.

Why do I like her? Well, for one she was fun. Everyone liked to be around her. She was considerate of others' feelings. She was an idiot, but a cute idiot. She was cute in everything. She was such a drama queen. She made people laugh. She made people happy. She was always happy. Unless, of course, she was with him. Not that he really did anything to change that; but he didn't do anything to really make it that way either.

Ryou sighed. Again. Keiichiro was right; he needed to get some rest. Of course he still had some work to do… He decided to just take a nap. Maybe when he woke up he would just forget all about Ichigo.

He took his shirt off—as he always did when he slept—and flopped down on his bed. His hand shot up to his forehead suddenly. "My head…" _Another _migraine? He had been having quite a few this week. He _had _been under a lot f stress lately, but he had a feeling that it had more to do with the cat DNA, and he knew that eventually things would get a lot worse than just a migraine. Well, sleep would help. He closed his eyes and tried his best to ignore the throbbing pain in his head.

…………………

Ichigo wrote something down, looked at it for a minute, crumpled it up, and threw it away. It landed in her wastebasket along with the other ideas she had rejected that night. "Nyargh!" she yelled in frustration. "I just can't think of anything!" She had been trying to figure out a way to get Shirogane to like Retasu, but could think of nothing. She was just too distracted by what Aoyama-kun had said about talking to her employer, and was getting more anxious about it by the second. If she wasn't yelling at him, Ichigo was really nervous to be around him. What would she say to him?

_Maybe I'll just write out what I'll say to him, _she thought. She tore a new piece of paper out of her notebook. She bit the eraser of her pencil as she thought of how to begin. "Shirogane-san, may I speak to you for a moment?" she said as she wrote it down. No, that was stupid. He wouldn't listen to her if she was being _too_ nice. He was too much of a jerk. She crossed it out and started again. "Shirogane, I can't take it anymore!" Well, he wouldn't listen to her if she was too mean, either. She crossed that out as well. "Shirogane, there's something on my mind." That sounded okay, she decided. "So, nice weather we're having." She quickly crossed that out. Small talk didn't work with Shirogane; it was best to get right to the point. Besides, what if it rained or something? "You're probably gonna think this is really stupid for me to say," she wrote, "but there's some things that've been bothering me. You always act like such a jerk so—" she crossed that part out, "You're not always the nicest guy. To me, I mean." That made her sound like a complete idiot. "You're not always the nicest guy to me." That would have to do. "I feel like I should at least have a little more respect around here. And if you could help out with the café instead of locking yourself in your room all day, that would be great too." She smiled to herself, satisfied. That sounded good enough. She would just have to forget about the raise.

Okay, so now she had something to say to him. Would she be able to say it? No. Of course not. Maybe…she could just give him a note? Yes, that would have to do. The more she thought about it, the less she wanted to actually _tell_ him all that stuff. She rewrote her letter on a new piece of paper and examined it for errors. It looked pretty good to her. _Great!_ she thought. _Now, when should I give it to him? _That thought had never occurred to her. She guessed she could give it to him at work, but then the other girls would see it and ask about it… No, it was best to give to him when no one else was around. She would just have to give it to him before work. But _when_ before work? She could show up early and give it to him, but Akasaka-san was always there before she got there. He showed up at about five, or something like that; Ichigo wasn't even sure. And she couldn't wake up that early anyways. Especially when she went to bed _this_ late; it was already 1:30 AM.

"I've got it!" she exclaimed when she realized what to do. She would take it too him right now. Akasaka-san wasn't there, and she could just leave it in the café instead of having to give it to him, which she really didn't want to do anyways. She smiled, happy she had thought of a solution. She put on her slippers and headed outside, deciding not to change out of her pajamas since no one would be out at 1:30 in the morning to see her.

She quickly made her way to Café Mew Mew, clutching the note tightly in her hand. The front door was locked, as she expected, but Akasaka-san hid a spare key above the door in case either he or Ryou lost theirs, and showed it to the catgirl in case of emergencies. This wasn't an emergency, but there was no other way she knew how to get into the café this late at night—or early in the morning.

She slowly opened the door and looked around. It was dark and everything was locked up. "Hello?" she said. When there was no answer, she went up the stairs to Shirogane's room.

At first she just stared at his door, contemplating what to do next. She could slide the note under his door, but he probably wouldn't see it in the morning. She remembered, from the few times she had been in his room, that there was a desk with his computer and a picture on it. He would probably see her note if she put it there.

She opened the door slowly, half expecting to see Shirogane waiting for her there, but he was hidden under the covers of his bed, tossing and turning fitfully. Ichigo crept over to his desk to leave the note, but stopped to stare at the sleeping boy. _He must be having a nightmare or something,_ she thought. She unconsciously walked to his bedside and sat down. The blonde was breathing fast, as if he had just ran a long distance, and was covered in a layer of sweat. Ichigo touched his face and brushed his hair out of his eyes like he was a child having a nightmare instead of her arrogant boss who she…Hated! How could she be doing this? She hated Shirogane! _I'm just gonna leave the note, and go home to bed, _she thought. But…when she had touched his face, he was so warm like he had a fever or something… No. She had to go. Shirogane might be having a nightmare, but there was nothing she could do about that. She stood up to leave.

"Ah!" Ryou cried in his sleep. "No!"

Ichigo immediately dropped the note and sat back down. She didn't care how he treated her; Ryou needed her help and that was all that mattered. "Shirogane, wake up," she said softly. "You're having a nightmare."

Ryou seemed to be gasping for air. "Ah! No! Help!" Ichigo began to panic. She had never seen him like this…"Shirogane, wake up," she said more firmly. He began gasping more and appeared to be grabbing for something. Ichigo shook him, but he seemed to only get worse. "Ryou!" she shouted in panic.

Ryou's blue eyes suddenly shot open and he grabbed Ichigo's hand pulled her close to him. The catgirl knew she would never forget what she saw in those blue orbs. Sorrow, frustration, confusion, pain, grief, fear…all in the eyes of a fifteen-year-old boy. She thought to herself that no one deserved that, although she didn't even know what it was he didn't deserve. All she knew was that Ryou was supposed to be a conceited teenage jerk, not a depressed kid who might have lost more than she'd ever know. It didn't seem fair. _Why? What did he do to deserve this?_

Ryou started to come to and became a little more aware of his surroundings. "Ichigo," he said, still breathing hard.

"It's okay," she said. She was surprised at her own tone of voice toward him, which was soft and comforting, like a mother might comfort her child.

Ryou's eyes were still wide with confusion and fear, but he began to calm down a bit and as he did he grew more tired than anything else. He closed his eyes and fell back to sleep immediately, like nothing had happened.

Ichigo sighed. Well, now she knew it was more than just a nightmare. She would just have to ask him about it in the morning. She started to pull her hand out of his, but he woke up instantly.

"Don't leave me," he seemed to beg, pulling her closer.

Ichigo nodded and smiled at him. Her parents might worry…but that didn't matter right now. She laid down next to the blonde. "I won't," she promised.

He held her closely and fell back to sleep instantaneously again. Ichigo closed her eyes and started to drift off. He smelt nice. Like…roses or something. Why hadn't she noticed that before? Well, she was never that close to him before. It was almost disturbing.

But just almost.


	3. Many Things are Mentioned

Chapter Three—Many Things Are Mentioned 

Ryou awoke to find that his headache had not disappeared, but he felt somewhat refreshed, as if he had taken a long bath. He felt the sun coming in from his window and groaned. He _really_ didn't want to get out of bed right now. He slid under his covers and pulled the pillow he was holding closer to him…the pillow that was strangely warm and smelled like strawberries…Ryou's eyes shot open. _Ichigo? _What was she doing here? In bed? With _him_? He began panicking. _Okay, calm down and think,_ he commanded himself. _Just remember what happened last night. _He began to replay the events of the previous night in his head. His head…which had hurt…a lot…and he took a nap…and obviously didn't wake up… how did Ichigo get in bed with him?

The only explanation he could think of had to do with alcohol or drugs and some other things I won't mention because of immature readers. He looked at the sleeping girl and realized they were holding hands. He smiled at her. Well, judging by the fact that they were both fully dressed—or mostly, since Ryou had taken his shirt off before he went to bed—and she was wearing pink Hello Kitty pajamas, he guessed that they hadn't…_done_ anything. Or at least not anything serious.

He started climbing out of bed, being careful not to wake Ichigo up. He changed his jeans and put on his black vest. He had a lot of work to do that day. But…so did Ichigo…He looked back at the sleeping girl. It seemed a shame to wake her. It was Sunday, after all. And…she looked so pretty sleeping there… He shook his head. _She's got a boyfriend, baka._ Nevertheless, he kissed her lightly on the cheek before walking out of the room and going down to the café. Yes, she had a boyfriend. Or crush. It didn't really matter to him; the only thing that mattered was that she liked someone. Someone _other_ than him. Why was she in love with such a—a pretty boy, anyway?

Well, she was in love with the pretty boy, and Ryou decided that's all that mattered. Besides, he hadn't really liked her until last night. What was _that_ all about anyways? He still couldn't completely figure out _why_ he liked her at all. He had never been in love before, and he hadn't planned on doing it until…well, never.

But alas, love is not something avoidable, and it cannot be planned out. One minute you can be angry as heck at a person, and the next—boom! You're in love. It's a curious thing, really, and most of the time it has no logical explanation, which was a bad sign for Ryou since logic was what he was best at.

Ryou put his hand on his forehead. His headache had suddenly become a lot worse. He decided that he had had enough logic for one day, although it was only eight in the morning. The combination of the cat DNA, logic, love, and the events of the previous night were sending his head spinning, and he really couldn't take any more of it.

He walked into the kitchen and made his coffee, not adding any sugar or cream. This made the beverage taste extremely unpleasant, but Ryou was _not _a morning person and strong coffee was the only known thing that could wake him up completely.

Although finding a girl in bed with you can awaken you equally, if not more, so.

Ryou forced down his coffee and tried to think of something requiring less logic. He had really had enough of that.

Keiichiro walked into the kitchen wide-awake (like he had been since he arrived at three hours earlier), whistling and sipping his coffee, which had at least six scoops of sugar and two pints of cream. He was reading his newspaper as he walked in and so at first he did not notice his young friend.

If you ask someone the difference between Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka, the chances are you'll end up talking to that person for a very, very long time, because the list of their differences never seems to end. For that reason, I'm not going to write down the entire list, and if I did it would take almost as much space as the list of things Ichigo and Ryou have fought about, which is also extremely long and would fit in the state of Florida if written on paper. This is why you'll never see the entire list of either subject—although you probably won't want to—but you don't need to see the list to know both things to be true. You need only see Ichigo and Ryou together for about sixteen seconds to know that they argue more than any other couple in the history of couples that stayed together; and you need only see a picture of Ryou and Keiichiro to know that both men share little in common.

However, if you only saw a picture of the two bishonens, you'd never guess that the two men were the closest friends you'd ever meet. Although Ryou seemed to never talk and always ignored Keiichiro as the brunette talked his young friend's ear off, they had known each other long enough that they didn't have to talk or pay attention to each other to know what the other was thinking.

And so it was understandable that when the ponytailed man walked into the kitchen and looked up at his friend, he knew that there was something troubling him. "Ryou, is something wrong?"

Ryou took another swig of his bitter coffee and shook his head. "No," he lied. It was probably the biggest lie he'd ever told. His cat DNA was acting up, he was falling in love with a girl who was taken, that same girl was sleeping in his bed with absolutely no explanation as to what she was doing there, and his coffee wasn't strong enough. Oh, if only he was legal…Keiichiro was not convinced. "Are you sure?"

Ryou nodded, gulped down the rest of his coffee, and left the kitchen; and Keiichiro knew that it was best not to speak of it any further. If Shirogane wanted to talk about it, he would talk about it, but pressuring him into telling him what was wrong was an majorly bad idea. Although, perhaps, this time Keiichiro should have pressured the blonde into telling him what was wrong. Perhaps if he had, he would have realized what was wrong and done something to stop it, thus avoiding the ironic future that lay ahead. But Akasaka remained silent, respecting his friend's privacy, although this time it might have been better if he didn't know Ryou well enough to do that.

…………………………

Ichigo's eyes fluttered open when the bed suddenly became colder. She shivered and reached for Ryou, only to find that he had just gotten out of bed. _That would explain the sudden coldness,_ Ichigo thought, although it didn't explain at all why she was just trying to hold her boss. She turned to face Shirogane buttoning his pants (she was glad she turned around when she did, and not too early) and then put on his black vest that he seemed to like so much. She smiled.

Ryou…

What? Since when did she call him by his first name? _Shirogane,_ she quickly corrected herself. She didn't stop smiling, though. _I hope he's okay this morning._

The blonde finished dressing and looked over at Ichigo. She quickly closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. She heard him walk up close to her and soon felt him breathing on her face. _What the heck is he doing? _the redhead thought, more nervous and confused than angry.

He kissed her quickly on the cheek and left the room. Ichigo opened her eyes and sat up as soon as he was gone. She touched her cheek, which had suddenly become warm and tingly and, along with the rest of her face, bright red. _He…kissed me…_ He _had_ kissed her, hadn't he? What…what did that mean? Did it mean he…No! He couldn't like Ichigo! He was supposed to like _Retasu_. That was the plan. But…What if he _did_ like her? What would that mean? How would Retasu react? How would Aoyama-kun react? How would _Ichigo_ react?

She shook her head. She couldn't even comprehend that. _Shirogane _like _her_? It didn't even seem possible. Ryou was _not_ the kind of guy Ichigo could imagine herself with, and that was _that_. Besides, he was two whole years older than her. What would her parents think of that?

The catgirl gasped. Her parents! "I am _so _dead!" She jumped out of bed and hurriedly put on her slippers, which she had taken off before getting in bed with Shirogane the night before. She smiled to herself. He was so warm and smelt so good… Whoa, what was she thinking?

She shook her head as if it would get rid of the thought and quickly brushed back her hair with her hand, like it would do any good. She was about to leave the room when she saw something on the floor. _I guess Shirogane didn't see my note._

She picked up the piece of paper. Looked like she would end up giving it to him after all. Sighing, she walked down to the café. She was still wearing her pajamas, but there was nothing she could really do anything about that. She had to give Shirogane the note quickly so she could get back home. Her parents were probably still asleep since it was the weekend; maybe she could sneak in without them ever noticing she was gone.

She sure hoped she could.

Luckily, the café hadn't opened yet and no one was around. Keiichiro was the first one to see her coming down the stairs. "Ichigo?" he said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

Ichigo stopped suddenly and stared at Akasaka, feeling her face flush as she tried to think of a good reason for coming out of Ryou's room at eight in the morning, wearing pajamas and fuzzy pink slippers. "I—erm, nice whether we're having, huh Akasaka-san?"

As you know, small talk doesn't work with Shirogane; but as you also should know, Shirogane and Akasaka are absolutely nothing alike. "Yes," he agreed, not realizing that she hadn't even been outside yet, "it's very sunny, but they say it's supposed to rain later. Of course they could be wrong—they usually are. That is, they're usually not right. I have a feeling it might sprinkle a little, but I doubt it'll be the big storm they're expecting. Then again, I could be wrong too, but—" He stopped, realizing he was rambling. "Ichigo-san, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here at this time?"

The talk about whether had bought her enough time to think up an excuse, although not a very good one. "I dunno," she said, hoping she sounded convincing enough. "I'm always late, so I got here early today."

Keiichiro raised an eyebrow. "Why aren't you dressed?"

Her face turned redder than it had been before. "I guess I was in such a hurry to get here, I forgot."

The brunette sighed. Ichigo couldn't tell if he believed her or not, but either way, it wasn't surprising to hear what he said next. "Well, you'd better get home and change. Come back after that, okay?" He gave her a small smile.

Ichigo sighed in relief. "O-okay. I'll do that." She started to leave, but stopped when she remembered why she had come in the first place. "Um, Akasaka-san? Can I talk to Shirogane first? I need to tell—er, give him something."

Her employer nodded. "Of course. I believe he's in the laboratory."

"Arigato!" Ichigo gave him a bright smile, waved, and skipped down the stairs to the lab. She never really liked the room: it was always dark and there were always so many technical things that she never understood. She would rather be in the café—even on a bad day—serving food and talking to her friends, than to be down in the cold, unwelcoming (or at least to her it was) laboratory. Every part of the building seemed better than the dark room, especially—Ichigo stopped skipping when the thought crossed her mind. Why couldn't she get that out of her head? And why did she suddenly like _that_ room so much? It wasn't like there was anything interesting in there. A desk, a computer, a bed, a window, a door that lead to the bathroom, and a picture. That was all. Wait, she had actually paid attention to all that?

She tried to shake off her thoughts again and opened the door to the lab. Everything was as she expected it to be: it was dark, cold, confusing, and unwelcoming. Ryou sat in front of a computer, doing whatever it was he did all day. As always, he was too wrapped up in his work to notice Ichigo enter the room.

"Ahem," she said, trying to get his attention.

He turned around. _Ichigo? _"Ohayo, Ichigo," he said blandly. _What…?_

She cleared her throat. "I'd like to—I'm here to give you—well, I need you to—um…" She sighed. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Small talk doesn't work with me," he said in the same tone.

"I know that," she said impatiently, "but I mean…I was just wondering how you… how you were…feeling…" She had suddenly become very nervous and her grip on her note grew tight.

"I'm fine." _What's she talking about?_ "Did you want something?"

"Um, I came to give you…" she stopped. Heck, she didn't care about the note anymore. "I wanted to ask you how you feel," she said quickly. "B-because, um, well, y'know."

Ryou stared at her for a moment. "Ichigo, I'm very busy and I'd rather you not waste my time."

Ichigo looked like she had just been slapped. "Ryou…"He looked surprised at her. Did she just call him by his first name? That was something only friends did, right? And he was her boss, not her—her _friend_. Unless of course…she _did _like him… But she wouldn't like him like _that_…would she?

_No, _he told himself. _Of course not._

"You have no authority to call me by my first name." Ooh, bad move.

Ichigo clenched her note tighter, although now she was getting more angry than nervous. Even after she helped him last night he still treated her like this? What was _wrong_ with him? "Y-You—I hate you!" She ran out of the lab, slamming the door shut.

Okay, he didn't mean for it to come out like that. But it had anyhow, hadn't it? He sighed. Well, now it was certain she hated him. He always had to screw it up, didn't he? She was acting…well…not so annoying just then. She must have wanted to tell him _something_ important. Especially after spending the night with him.

He had forgotten to ask her about that, hadn't he?

_Crap._

Now he'd never know. Well, maybe he could put the pieces together… She asked him if he was feeling better. So that meant he must not have been feeling well that night, right? Why would that be?

Once again, the only explanations he could think of involved the use of alcohol, drugs, and the other things I won't mention. He should go out and ask her what happened… But then that'd ruin his image.

Oh, that's all that matters, isn't it Shirogane?

Stupid little voice in his head. For some reason, it sounded a lot like a cross between Ichigo, Keiichiro, and his mother.

He sighed again. This would obviously be another one of 'those days', unfortunately. It seemed a long time since he had gone a week without one. This would just be another day in the life of the most unfortunate blonde ever. There seemed to be no way out.

And all because he was too 'man' to do anything about it.


	4. The Switch

**Chapter 4—The Switch**

Ichigo stomped out of the café.

The jerk. That jerk. That inconsiderate JERK! Who did he think he was, anyway? Talking to her like that…She stopped walking for a minute at a lamppost. She stared at it for a minute and then kicked it. "JERK!" she screamed, earning a few strange glances from passersby. Ichigo didn't care. She didn't care if they saw her in her pajamas, or if they saw her kicking a streetlight, or if they heard her yelling out random insults. She was too ticked off to care.

_Stop Ichigo, _she told herself, _you need to chill out._ She breathed in deeply, like her mom did in Yoga. _Breathe out all the negative thoughts…breathe in all the happy thoughts…_She walked past a store that had a few things on display. It wasn't really her kind of store: they sold darker, gothic and punkish things. There was a couple of CDs that had bands Ichigo didn't ever want to hear, and a few manikins were modeling some of the clothes. There was a baggy black t-shirt that read "rebel" in messy dripping red letters, as if it was blood; another black shirt that was so tight Ichigo didn't know how anyone could fit in it; and a black leather vest, which she immediately recognized.

"JERK!" She kicked the wall of the building and ran back to her house before anything else could remind her of…_him_. She managed to sneak in without her parents noticing her; they were still asleep since it as a weekend. _But I still have to go to work,_ she thought. Shirogane didn't believe in days off. Why was he always so frustrating?

She put on her work clothes and started back to the café as slowly as possible. The more time she spent away from Shirogane, the better. Of course then he'd be mad at her for being late… Well, that was his problem. She didn't care whether or not _he_ was mad at _her_ anymore. The spoiled, selfish, inconsiderate little jerk.

She stopped walking one last time to stare at a small rock on the ground. She picked it up and threw it as far as she could. "JERK!" she cried.

……………………………

"Shirogane-oniisan! Looky what I can do, na no da!"

Ryou turned around to see Purin hanging upside down from one leg on the chandelier, spinning two plates on every finger, blowing a double bubble, hoolahooping, and taking orders all at the same time. The customers clapped and threw money at the monkeygirl.

"Arigato! Domo Arigato, na no da!" she said cheerfully as she jumped down without dropping anything (surprisingly). "Purin will be in the park this afternoon, na no da!"

Keiichiro joined the crowd as they clapped cheered again, Retasu recovered from nearly having a heart attack, Minto rolled her eyes at the "childishness" and continued drinking her tea, Zakuro didn't notice anything to begin with, and Ryou said, "Purin, don't chew gum at work," and walked off. Once again, an ordinary day at Café Mew Mew. Just to make it even more ordinary, Ichigo had gone home to change and was now late, like always. Ryou looked up at the clock. She would get there right about… "Now," he said silently.

The door swung open and Ichigo stomped in.

"You're late," Ryou said.

She gave him an icy glare and over to a table to take orders. "May I help you?" she asked grouchily.

The man sitting at the table answered, "Uh, yeah. Can I have a number one and three to go?"

"If you want them to go," Ichigo said, "you have to wait over there." She pointed to a couch on the other end of the café.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know that," he apologized. "But since there's no one else there, do you think you could just give it to me now?"

Ichigo glowered at him.

"Er, um, or I could go wait over there," he said timidly.

"Good idea," she said, walking to another table.

Ryou quickly moved out of her way as she walked past him. Okay, so she was ticked off. She would probably scare off more customers than Zakuro usually did. He should go apologize… But no, he had more important things to do. Like finding out why he was having all those headaches, like the one that he still had from that morning. Yes, he had to do that first.

He looked at Ichigo, who was still apparently in a bad mood. He should at least say something nice to her… "Ichigo," he said.

"Shirogane, unless this has something to do with your demise, I don't wanna hear it."

Ryou quickly nodded and walked away. _Well, that went well._ Usually he was the one telling her _he_ didn't want to hear what _she_ had to say. Not that she ever had anything important to say. Why did he like her again?

Once again he went over the reasons in his head, and once again he was left thinking that she only cared for Aoyama and she obviously hated Shirogane. He never fully understood why before, but now he couldn't really blame her. And…he really did harass her a lot…Ryou went into his room and locked the door. Right now wasn't the time to think about Ichigo. He needed to find out exactly what was causing his headaches and how he could prevent them. Then maybe…he would try to apologize. But not now.

He opened one of his drawers and took out an injection gun filled with bright blue liquid. _The DNA of the Iriomote Wild Cat._ He knew that was what was causing the headaches. He took out a syringe with liquid that was a greenish blue color. That was what he injected into himself to prevent attacks that were a side effect from the cat DNA. The antidote, however, also had side effects; when he took it, he wouldn't be able to concentrate, had trouble sleeping, and always have terrible migraines before and after an attack occurred. He stopped taking the antidote about a month before and hadn't had an attack since, and he was able to concentrate and sleep better, but his migraines came quite often anyway. Why was that?

Figuring he should just be grateful that he only had headaches now, he turned on his computer and tried to figure out why, now that he had stopped taking the medication, he was still having headaches. Was it better to keep taking the antidote? Why did the attacks stop when he stopped taking the antidote? He wasn't sure. But he figured he should just find a cure for his headaches before doing anything else.

……………………………………

By the time her workday was over, Ichigo—being Ichigo—had cheered up a lot. She hadn't forgotten she was mad at Shirogane, of course, but she wasn't as grouchy as she had been that morning.

"Ichigo-'neechan! Lookit, no da!"

Ichigo looked up to see Purin performing the same trick she had done that morning. "Purin, are you sure you should be up there?"

"It's okay, Ichigo-oneechan! Purin did this trick in front of Shirogane-oniisan and he said not to chew Purin's gum at work, na no da!" Purin said cheerfully.

At the mention of her boss, Ichigo frowned. "Well, Shirogane never knows what he's talking about." She added, "And I'm not sure I know what _you're _talking about, but whatever."

"Ichigo-san," Retasu said, "if you don't mind me asking, why are you mad at Shirogane-kun?"

Ichigo's cheeks turned a shade of light pink. "H-he was being a jerk earlier, that's all. I was going to ask him if he could give me a little more respect, like Aoyama-kun said to do, but then he was mean to me, so I just thought it'd be a waste of time." It wasn't a _complete_ lie.

"How is he going to know you want more respect if you don't ask him, Ichigo-san?" Retasu asked.

"Retasu, he should _already _know I want respect," the catgirl pointed out. "_Everybody _wants respect. I shouldn't have to ask him for it."

Retasu sighed and nodded. "Hai, I suppose you're right. But…well, I mean, he's always nice to…_me_."

Ichigo smiled. She had almost completely forgotten about getting her friend together with Shirogane—even if she thought Retasu deserved better. _Everyone_ deserved better than Shirogane. "Well, I'm gonna go home now. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye Ichigo-'neechan, no da!" Purin called from the ceiling.

"Goodbye," Retasu said.

Ichigo waved and headed out the door.

Ryou raised up the vial that contained the new fluid he had created and examined in closely. If his research was correct, this would cure his headaches.

"Well," he said to himself, "here it goes." He gulped down the substance.

All of the sudden his head began to spin; he collapsed on the ground; he felt as if he couldn't breathe. _Great. I made it worse._

He coughed roughly and passed out.

………………………

"Ichigo o tabeyou," Ichigo sang quietly to herself as she walked down the street, "Iro, iro furuutsu. Tsumetai aisukuriimu, dore mo minna s—Nya!" All of the sudden, Ichigo's head started spinning. She collapsed on the ground and had trouble breathing. _I'M GONNA DIE!_

Everything became blurry and she passed out.

……………………

Ryou groaned and rubbed his head. "I'm not doing that again." His voice sounded strangely high… He decided to ignore it. It was probably in his imagination. He stood up and opened his eyes. He was…outside? Why? How did he…The blonde gasped. His hair! It was so…long! Okay, it was only shoulder length, but it was longer than it was before! How did it get like that? Why was it…red? What was happening? And why was he wearing a…a…"Dress?"

Ryou would have died if he didn't know that Ichigo would just bring him back to life so she could kill him again. He realized what had happen. How it happened, he didn't know. But he did know that in about five seconds, even though he was pretty far from the café, he would hear Ichigo scream from his room.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! SHIROGANE!"


	5. Explanations

**Chapter 5—Explanations**

"AAAAAH! AAAAH! AAAAAAH!" Ichigo stopped screaming and looked at herself in the mirror. "AAAAH!" How could this be happening? What was going on? How did she get in Shirogane's body?

Ichigo had been scared before. Mostly because of a horror movie she watched, but still. But this—this made watching The Ring as scary as watching Barney, because there is _nothing _scarier than finding out you've just turned into your worst enemy. Especially if your worst enemy is the opposite sex.

"AAAAAAAH!"

Why did this have to happen to her? Nothing ever happened to any of the other girls. _She_ was the one who turned into a cat; _she_ was the one who one of the badguys was madly in love with; _she _was the one Shirogane chose to pick on; _she _was the one that was stalked by a fat cat; _she_ was the one who had to find all the other Mew Mews; _she_ was the one who's animal DNA always acted up; _she_ was the one who couldn't seem to ever say the right things around her crush;_ she _was the one who chose to help Retasu get Shirogane to like her; _she _was the one who thought it would be okay to spend the night with him; _she_ was the one who had to be in the body of the jerk that dared to be called her boss!

Ichigo wondered, if she was in Shirogane's body, what happened to her body? And more importantly, what happened to Shirogane?

Her eyes became wide as she realized what happened.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Ryou ran into Café Mew Mew as fast as he could.

"Ichigo-san, did you forget something?" Retasu asked.

Ryou almost ignored her, until he realized she was talking to him. "Forget? Yeah, that's it, I…forgot something."

"Did you hear Shirogane scream?" Minto asked. "Talk about a girly guy."

"Shirogane is very manly!" Ryou said defensively before he could stop himself. Keiichiro, Minto, Purin, Retasu, and even Zakuro, stopped what they were doing and stared at Ryou with wide eyes. "Er, I mean…he'd be very manly…if…he was a girl!" Everyone went back to what they were doing.

Minto laughed. "Good one." Retasu looked mildly offended, but Ryou thought nothing of it.

"I'll go see what's wrong with Ryou," Keiichiro said.

"No!" Ryou shouted. "I mean…no." He laughed nervously. "I'll do it. I mean, I was gonna go up there and ask him something anyways."

Keiichiro smiled. "Alright, Ichigo-san."

Ryou almost passed out again—being called Ichigo-san—but decided he could do that later; he needed to talk to the real Ichigo right now.

He quickly went upstairs to his room and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. Right, he had locked it. He took a deep breath, looked around to make sure no one was listening, and knocked lightly on the door.

Before he could say anything, Ichigo spoke. "Who's there?" she asked quickly. "I-I'm really busy right now and I can't talk!"

"Ichigo," Ryou said softly, "it's me. Open the door."

The catgirl covered her mouth with her hand to keep herself from screaming again. That was _her _voice! She was talking to herself! Maybe it was her conscience? Or just voices in her head? She was going insane! She couldn't go insane! Aoyama-kun probably hated insane people! "I said go away!" she shrieked again.

Ryou winced. Even though it was his voice, Ichigo made it sound so…_girly_. "Don't say it like that. You make me sound like a sissy."

Ichigo gasped and realized exactly what he meant when he said, "it's me." She made her way cautiously to door and hastily unlocked and opened it; as if touching it would give burn her hand or something. Ryou stood on the other side, arms crossed, staring up at her impatiently. Of course seeing herself made Ichigo completely forget that it wasn't actually _her_ she was seeing. "AAAmph!"

Ryou put a hand over her mouth to stop her screaming, which was as difficult to do as it was funny looking, since both teens had recently had a major change in height. "Shut up, baka-ichigo!" He removed his hand. Fortunately, she was now over the screaming stage. Unfortunately, she had just entered the panicking stage.

"Shirogane! What happened? What did you do to me? I want my body back! I'm gonna be stuck like this forever, aren't I! I don't wanna be you! What about Aoyama-kun? He'll hate me! My parents will disown me! Keiichiro will fire me! You'll fire me! My grandma won't send me money for my birthday anymore! I WANNA BE A NORMAL GIRL!" She began to hypervinalate and Ryou looked around nervously to see if anyone was watching.

When he didn't spot anyone, he pushed the girl…er, _boy_, into his room and locked the door. "Ichigo," he said, "you need to calm down."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN? WHY THE FRICK SHOULD I CALM DOWN? I'M STUCK INSIDE YOUR BODY, SHIROGANE! I'M A GUY! THINGS CAN'T GET ANY WORSE THEN THIS AND YOU'RE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN?"

Ryou sighed and plopped down on his bed. "You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?"

Ichigo had gotten over the panicking stage and was now in the extremely-ticked-off stage. "You did this on purpose! You did this because you hate me! You can't stand me, so you turned me into you! You conceited jerk! All you think about is yourself! You didn't even consider that this would be THE MOST SUCKY EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!"

The redhead—who had been a blonde until just recently—looked like a cross between frustrated, surprised, and confused, and it was all because of the girl (or boy; he wasn't sure what to call…_it_ yet) standing in front of him. He was frustrated with her uncooperative behavior, he was surprised because he was now in her body, and he was confused because now she thought he did this on purpose. "Ichigo, do you honestly think I _want_ to be in your body? I'm not having any more fun than you are."

She opened her mouth to snap a comeback, but she realized that it was true and anything she said would make her look like more of an idiot then she already did. "O-Okay… Then what happened?"

Ryou hesitated to tell her the truth. He now knew very well that the supposed antidote he had created was the reason he had switched bodies with the catgirl, but she'd kill him if she knew it was his fault. However, he decided, she deserved to at least know what really happened and she would find out eventually anyway, knowing Ichigo. He took a deep breath, knowing it would probably one of the last breaths he'd take after he told the girl. Or…boy.

"Well?" She put her hands on her hips and began tapping her foot impatiently in a very feminine-like manner.

"Don't do that," Ryou said in disgust. Sighing again, he said, "I've been having headaches lately."

"So?"

"Really bad headaches. I—""Shirogane, I could care less about your personal issues right now."

Ryou put his hand up to his head. He could feel another migraine coming on, but it wasn't from his cat DNA. "I was trying to create an antidote for my headaches," he said as if he hadn't heard her. "There was a 97.2 chance of it working, but unfortunately the odds didn't matter. Something went wrong when I took it, and we switched bodies. Or at least that's my guess."

"But why wouldn't you switch bodies with someone else?"

Ryou struggled to keep his face from flushing. "I believe it's because you recently had the most…physical contact…with…me."

Ichigo was not as experienced in keeping herself from blushing. "O-oh. I see." Her voice was low, attempting to hide her embarrassment.

Ryou was quick to change the subject. "But what I don't understand is why it didn't work. Even if there was a chance of it failing, the results shouldn't have been this drastic. It was only a cure for headaches. Sort of a pumped up Advil."

"You're the scientist, not me," she said with a shrug. "Well, actually I _am_ sorta the scientist now, but I'm still not as smart as you 'cause you still have your own brain. I mean, you do have your own brain, right?"

Ryou couldn't keep from smiling a little. "Yes. We still think and act like the same people."

"Oh, well that's good…I guess." Ichigo's thoughts went to her crush, and how much he would hate her if she acted anything like Shirogane.

Ryou frowned. He could tell when she was thinking about Aoyama. She always had that look in her eyes; that dreaming sort of look that he longed to see when she was with to him. _Shut up. She's already gotta guy. There's nothing you can do about—_ Wait. There was something he could do about that, wasn't there? He couldn't hold back the smirk that came over his face and soon found himself plotting the many things he could do to his advantage in Ichigo's body.

"What are you so happy about?"

He snapped out of his trance and looked up at…well, himself. "Nothing."

"Well," she said, heading for the door, "we'd better go tell Akasaka-san about this, or else—"

"No!" Ryou ran in front of her so she couldn't leave. Okay, so she hadn't tried to kill him yet, and although he wanted to keep it that way, he couldn't let her tell the brunette about what happened. "I-I mean, no. There's no need to tell Keiichiro about this."

Ichigo looked confused. "But can't he help us?"

"Look, this is only temporary. We don't need Keiichiro to know."

"Oh, that's good," she said, relieved. "But Akasaka-san might be able to help us get back to our own bodies sooner, right?"

"Well, I don't think he can…" He stopped. There was no use lying. "I don't…_want_ him to know."

Ichigo cocked an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"Because…if we tell him, I'll have to tell him I wasn't taking my…medication. And that would make him angry."

"Medication? For what?"

Ryou put his hand behind his head. What could he say? Telling her was definitely _not_ an option. She'd pity him, and that would be bad. Dumb girls. They always felt bad for people. Why couldn't she just hate him like she was supposed to? He considered what he could say. He couldn't tell her the truth, and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to lie right now (he had trouble lying when he was nervous). There was only one other option. "Ichigo," he started, "if you don't tell Keiichiro what happened, I'll give you a raise."

Ichigo stared at him wide eyed. "A—A _raise_? Like, as in more money?"

Ryou nodded.

"Um, well…h-how much?"

He considered. "Fifteen bucks an hour."

Ichigo didn't know what to say. Fifteen dollars? That was…a lot. Especially considering Shirogane's standards. She forced herself to recover from her shock. "Are you trying to bribe me?"

"Is it working?"

She thought for a moment. "Make it seventeen dollars, and I think it will."

Ryou smirked. "Deal."

"So…what exactly should we do?"

He shrugged. "Live each other's lives for a week. It shouldn't be that hard. All I have to do is whine and complain all the time."

"And all I have to do is be a bossy jerk," she shot back.

Ryou ignored her comment. "I guess you're parents will be worried if you don't get home soon." He stood up to leave.

"R-Right," Ichigo said. "But Shirogane!"

He stopped. "Yes, Ichigo?"

"Don't screw up my life. Okay?"

He smirked again. "Sure. Just as long as you don't screw up mine."

"Oh, and Shirogane?"

"Yeah?"

"This _is _only temporary, right?"

"Right."

"So…how long?"

Ryou paused. Oh, he knew she was going to kill him. May as well get it over with. "Approximately a week."

"A _WEEK_?" Ichigo's face turned red. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"


	6. Discoveries

Hi, it's me again. Thank you, everyone, for your wonderful reviews! Ichi-Kitty02, I had no idea I was even worthy of fangirl worship. When I see all these wonderful reviews, I just makes my day! 

If anyone has any writing tips or ideas for this story, please share them! I'm not exactly sure of everything that's going to happen in this story yet.

Oh, and just for the record, I don't really know what Ichigo's dad's name is. If someone could tell me, that'd be great.

Chapter 6—Discoveries 

"Ichigo, honey, you've been awfully quiet this evening."

Ryou poked at the meatloaf in front of him with his fork. He stared down at it, trying to avoid making eye contact with Ichigo's parents best he could. "I guess I'm tired," he answered Ichigo's mother. Sakura Momomiya seemed to be the more civilized of the girl's parents, but then again _anyone_ would look civilized after seeing Shimzabu eating.

Ichigo's father stuffed his face with mashed potatoes and said before he swallowed it all, "Hof wuf fwok twday?"

Ryou thought for a moment as he attempted to translate what Shimzabu had said. "How was work? It was fine."

Sakura gave her husband a look that a mother would give her child when he had just done something rude. "Don't talk with food in your mouth, dear." She turned to who she thought was her daughter and smiled. "Just fine? Nothing interesting happened?"

"No." He looked down at his food and continued poking at it. When he looked up, Sakura and Shimzabu were staring at him, most likely waiting for him to say something. It struck Ryou that Ichigo probably spoke more than a few words at dinner, and if he was going to play her for a week, he would have to fool her parents too. "I…got a raise."

"Hey, that's great Ichigo!" Shimzabu exclaimed, having fully swallowed his food.

"I told you that employer of yours wasn't as bad as he seemed," said Sakura, winking.

She even told her parents she hated him. How wonderful. "Yeah, I guess he's a pretty nice guy." He forced a smile. "May I be excused?"

Sakura frowned. "But honey, you've hardly touched your food."

"I'm not very hungry," he said. "I had a big lunch."

Sakura nodded as if she understood and Ryou went into the kitchen to put his plate in the sink. Yawning, he decided to go to bed. It had been a _long_ day. And tomorrow was Monday; he would have to go to school. Well, joy. But at least he would be in a lower grade so it would be easier. Wait… If he was in a lower grade, didn't that mean Ichigo would be in a higher one? Ooh, that wouldn't be good. He'd flunk his classes for sure.

Sighing, he decided he'd think of an excuse to why he was failing for a week after he returned to his body. He exited the kitchen and headed for Ichigo's room…except he didn't know where that was. Well the house wasn't _that _big, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. He decided to start on the second floor, and he made his way up the staircase. At the top there was a small hallway with four doors; Ryou knew immediately which was Ichigo's. The pink color and strawberries painted on it were a dead giveaway.

He turned the doorknob and pushed it open slowly, as if he thought a monster was waiting for him on the other side. The room was pink, just like he had suspected it would be, and was fairly tidy. Her bed was made; the pink bedspread decorated with strawberries (somewhat like the door, Ryou thought) was smoothed out without any creases. A box of makeup along with a few pictures of Ichigo and her family and friends were placed atop a small white dresser, and a small bookshelf stood near it gathering dust. In one corner there was a white and pink chest, which appeared to be locked. Ryou tried to open it and saw that this was true.

Forgetting the trunk for the moment, Ryou began to inspect the pictures on the dresser. There must have been at least fifteen, and to Ryou that was too many to count. Most of them had Ichigo, her parents, a few other people that looked related to her, and her two friends from school—Miwa and Moe, Ryou believed were their names. Two of the pictures had everyone from Café Mew Mew in them, except for Ryou because he had claimed he had too much work to do to take pictures. He regretted that now; he would do almost anything for Ichigo to have a picture of him along with all of her other friends.

To his disgust, the largest photograph was one of the redhead and her crush standing together, holding hands. It was in a large red porcelain frame that was shaped like a heart. They were outside, so Ryou guessed that must have been one of the times Ichigo was helping him clean up the environment.

He picked it up and stared at it for a minute, considering whether or not it would be a good idea to "accidentally" break it. No, she was already mad enough at him as it was.

He started to put it down, but he spotted a small piece of paper that had been under it and picked it up. He would have gasped when he saw what it was, if gasping wasn't such an un-Shirogane-like thing to do.

It was a picture.

A picture of him.

…………………………….

"Sheesh, Shirogane, don't you own anything that isn't leather?"

Ichigo dug through her employer's dresser drawer, searching for at least one article of clothing that she felt comfortable in. So far, she was having no success. It appeared that the few clothes Shirogane actually owned were either too dark for her taste or made of leather. Sighing, she decided to stay in the clothes she was wearing now until she went shopping.

Before closing the drawer, she took notice to the five or six different collars that Shirogane possessed and seemed to wear so often. Come to think of it, she never saw him without one. Unless he was wearing a turtleneck or something…

As her curiosity began to grow, she touched the side of her—er, Shirogane's neck, wondering what might be the reason that he would hide the area all the time. She looked around the room as if someone might be watching her, although she spotted no one. She reached behind her neck—Shirogane! It was _Shirogane's _neck!—and began to undo the strap that held the scarlet collar together. When it came off, she touched Shirogane's bare neck and analyzed it in the mirror. It looked normal enough. But wait—on the right side there was a small pink mark, identical to the one she had on her thigh; the mark that she had received when she became a Mew. "What…?"

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. "Ryou, may I come in?"

Ichigo almost fell over. She quickly closed the drawer and smoothed her clothes out, as if it would make much of a difference to the man at the door. "Come in, Aka—I mean, K-Keiichiro!" It almost felt wrong calling Akasaka-san by his first name, but Ichigo realized that Shirogane and Keiichiro were close enough friends to do that.

Keiichiro opened the door and walked in the room. "Good morning, Ryou," he said with a smile. "Are you feeling well?"

"Um…" _Think Ichigo: What Would Shirogane Say? _"Of course! Duh. Why wouldn't I be."

Akasaka-san looked at her strangely. "All…right."

"Yeah."

"So—"

"Well, actually, I'm a busy jerk, so I don't want to listen to anything you have to say."

Keiichiro stared at her like she was crazy. "Ryou…are you _certain_ your feeling well…?"

"Heh, j-just kidding!" She sweatdropped. "I mean, c'mon, can't you take a joke, Aka—Keiichiro?"

Akasaka-san didn't say anything. He just continued staring. Ichigo stared back, unsure of what to say. She suspected that wasn't something Shirogane would really say. Obviously, playing the part of him would be harder than she thought.

"S-so, what did you want, Keiichiro?" she said finally.

"Um, well…" Akasaka started, "One of your father's old friends called this morning. He wanted to speak to you. Since your door was locked, I told him that you were busy but you would call him back." He handed her a piece of paper with contact information.

"Cool," said Ichigo. "When am I gonna see Dad again, anyway?"

Akasaka stared, now more worried than confused. "Ryou, your parents are dead."

Whoa.

What did he just say?

Ichigo had to sit down. She remembered when she heard about the tidal waves on the news. They just came without warning, wiping out cities and killing hundreds.

She felt like one had just hit her.

"Ryou, are you _sure_ you're alright?"

Ichigo managed to nod and say, "Yes Keiichiro. I've just been under some stress lately." Did she really just say that? She was amazed at the sincerity in her own voice. It occurred to her that that _might_ actually be something Shirogane would say.

It surprised her to a certain degree when Akasaka-san sat down beside her. "Is there anything I can do?"

"No, I'm fine. Really!" She tried her best not to smile perkily like she usually would. It was not something Shirogane would do.

"It would be wise, you know, if you would take a small break."

"A break?" From what? All Ryou did was sit around all day and play games on his computer, right?

"Yes," Akasaka-san said firmly. "A break. You're working too hard, Ryou. Let me handle some of your work for a few days. It will refresh you."

She thought about it. Not whether or not to take the break—the obvious answer was yes. Ichigo was _really_ thinking about what Shirogane would do to reluctantly agree to the elder man. It was all too obvious that Ryou would never go along with it.

"How long would this 'break' be?" she asked.

"How about two weeks?"

More than enough time, Ichigo thought. She fought back a smile. She was stuck inside Shirogane's body and she wouldn't have to do a thing but go to school. Plus…after they switched back, Ryou would get some time off of his own. _Not that it really matters or anything_, she told herself.

"Okay," said she.

Akasaka-san seemed surprised. "'Okay'?"

"Yes. Okay."

"Just 'okay'? You're not going to argue with me further?"

"Don't see the point." She leaned back leisurely, in a very Shirogane-like fashion. "You'd just force me to do it in the end." Maybe she was getting the hang of this.

The answer was sufficient enough for Keiichiro. "Um, alright. You just…hang out then!" He smiled brightly and left. "Goodbye, Ryou!"

"Bye, A—Keiichiro." She gave him a little wave as he closed the door behind him.

She sat in silence for a moment, trying to take in what Akasaka-san had just told her. _Dead_, she thought. _They're dead._

She looked at Shirogane's neck again. It didn't make sense. Why would he have this mark? Why would he hide it? Why had he let her go on thinking his parents were alive? She looked at the picture on his desk. The four people in it looked so happy; so content. And Shirogane looked so much unlike…Shirogane. She picked up the photograph.

_Ryou, you idiot, why didn't you tell me?_

…………………….

Ryou got to school on time the next morning, much to everyone's surprise.

"Are you feeling okay?" Miwa asked.

"I'm fine," Ryou mumbled. He thought it was kind of obvious that he was feeling okay. After all, if he weren't, then wouldn't he be late and not early? Leave it to Ichigo to make stupid friends.

"For as long as we've known you, you've never been at school on time," said Moe. "So who are you and what did you do with Ichigo?"

Ryou considered making a sarcastic comeback, but decided against it. Ichigo was probably more perky in the morning. He could understand why, since she always slept in.

Miwa decided to change the subject. "Hey, Ichigo, do you think you could get a day off this week to go shopping?"

"No," he answered automatically. Ask Ichigo for a day off so that he could run around a mall with a couple of squealing girls? Ryou didn't think so.

"Could you just _try_ to ask your boss?" said Miwa. "He's gotta give you a day off eventually."

"He just gave me a raise," said he, "it would be rude to request a break now."

"C'mon, just ask him!" said Moe. "It won't hurt."

Ryou sighed. "Fine. I'll ask him later today." Yeah, right.

The bell rang and the three girls headed to their different classes. Ryou passed the class he would have normally gone to—if he was in his own body—and noticed his teacher standing outside scratching his head. Ryou stopped to see what was the matter.

"Legree-san?"

The teacher looked at who he thought was a young girl. "Good day, miss. You're Momomiya-san, correct?"

Ryou managed to nod.

"I thought so," said Legree. "You work for a boy in my class, Shirogane-san. Have you seen him by chance? It's so unlike him to be late."

Ryou's eyes narrowed. "He's late, is he?" Being late in her body, that was understandable. It wouldn't be Ichigo if she weren't late. But making _him_ late? How dare she? "I think I know where he is," Ryou said, stomping off.

Confused, Legree watched him go.

……………

Ichigo had been having a pleasant dream about going to France with Aoyama-kun, when a thumping sound awoke her.

"Ichigo! Wake up _now_!"

"Five more minutes," she mumbled unconsciously.

"_You're late_!"

Ichigo rolled out of bed and hit the floor hard. Did she _have _to go to school today? Her room was so warm and happy, and school was so gloomy and blah, and—

Wait. This wasn't her room.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The door swung open, and Ichigo saw something run in that looked strangely like herself. It took her a moment to realize that it _was_ her. She opened her mouth to scream again, but she…the other Ichigo…covered it.

"And I thought I wasn't a morning person," he/she/it said.

_Shirogane?_ Ichigo thought. She went over the events of the previous day in her head, slowly but surely realizing what was going on. _Oh my god! I'm in Shirogane's body!_ She jumped up and gaped at the other. _Oh my god! He's in _my_ body!_

"Fascinating, isn't it," Shirogane said without emotion. "Now hurry up and get to school. You're making us _both_ late."

Still dazed, Ichigo obeyed and began to get dressed. Ryou wisely waited outside. When she was finished, Ichigo came out wearing a white t-shirt with a large coffee stain, and a pair of blue jeans that she had found buried somewhere in the back of his drawer.

Ryou stared. "What are you wearing?"

"Clothes," she said with a shrug.

"I _know_ that."

"They're the only decent clothes you own," she snapped. "Seriously, Shirogane, your wardrobe is totally _lame_! With a capital 'L'." She made an "L" sign with her left hand and put the other on her hip.

"Don't…_do that_!" Somehow, he managed to keep himself from swearing.

Ichigo rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, I can act like myself when it's just you and I. I've completely got your whole jerk-ish attitude covered."

Ryou let that comment slide and went back to the clothing issue. "Ichigo, go back into my room and change into something more appropriate," he instructed.

"I'm sure there are plenty of people who would agree that what I'm wearing is much more appropriate than the rest of your wardrobe."

"And _I'm _sure there are plenty of people who would agree that by wearing what you're wearing you'll make a total fool out of yourself."

"No," said she with a smirk, "I'll be making a total fool out of _your_self!" She gave out a laugh and threw her fist into the air. "Take that, Shirogane! Revenge is so sweet!"

"Ichigo!" Ryou said, fuming, "If you don't stop it I'll—"

"Ryou, what in the world are you doing up there?"

"Keiichiro!" both teens cried out upon hearing the brunette.

"He can't see me here!" Ichigo yelped.

"No, he has to see you here!" corrected Ryou. "He can't see _me _here!"

"Hide in your room! No, don't, he might go in there!"

"Not if you stay out here! Wait, you have to change or he might get suspicious!"

"Too late!" Ichigo pushed Ryou into his room and slammed the door shut. About half a second later, Keiichiro came walking up the stairs.

He stared around, seemingly perplexed. "Ryou, were you talking to someone?"

"Who? Me?" Ichigo forced a laugh. "K-Keiichiro, you're so funny sometimes!" On the other side of the door, Ryou smacked his forehead.

Keiichiro looked more confused than ever. "I was sure I heard someone up here…"

"And you did!" Ichigo said quickly. "I was, uh, y'know, talking to myself, um, reminding myself to…go to school! Ohmigod!" She jumped up suddenly, remembering why Ryou had stopped by in the first place. "I've gotta go! I'm gonna be so late!"

"You're wearing that? Wait!" he called; but in vain. Ichigo would not stop to talk to him any longer.

The young man stood silently for a moment, utterly confused. It seemed to him that Ryou had not been himself lately. _Perhaps_, he considered, _because of the mention of his parents_. Akasaka wasn't sure.

Well, he would have to think about it later. There was work to be done in the café. Keiichiro headed back down the stairs.

Ryou heard his friend's feet descending the staircase, and sighed with relief. Relaxing, he leaned back against the door.

Big mistake.

As it turned out, Ichigo hadn't shut the door all the way when she shoved Ryou in his room. The door swung open and Ryou came tumbling out of the room. Keiichiro immediately turned around and ran back up the stairs to see what the commotion was.

"Ichigo!" he cried out of surprise. "What were you doing in Ryou's room?"

Ryou felt his face flush. What could he say? Keiichiro must be suspecting something was going on—maybe he would suspect the worse! If he saw Ichigo there two mornings in a row, what would that mean? What if he thought that he and Ichigo were… Oh, he didn't even want to think about that.

Keiichiro waited for him to respond, but Shirogane's mind wasn't working right at that moment. Nothing he could do! Nothing he could say! There must have been something! _Think, Ryou, THINK!_

He felt two cat ears pop up on the top of his head.

What? No!

_Wait_, he thought, _this is perfect._ He put his hands over his ears, trying to hide them, and ran downstairs as fast as he could. "IhavetogotoschoolAkasaka-sanbye!"

"Wait! Ichigo!"

Like the _real_ Ichigo, Ryou would not stop to talk to Keiichiro any longer.

……………………

"You're late, Shirogane-san," Legree said, more shocked than angry, when Ichigo entered the classroom.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that, uh…um, sir." She sat down at the only vacant desk, between a boy with glasses and poofy hair, and a girl a about who looked disturbingly similar. _Nerdtopia_, Ichigo thought.

The teacher was still amazed at one of his best students arriving late, but began his lesson. Ichigo hardly understood a word of it, but either way had way too much on her mind to pay attention.

_Akasaka-san is the only person I have to really try to fool_, she thought. _Shirogane doesn't really have many other friends._ At the thought of her brunette manager, her mind wandered to the night before.

Why did Ryou want to keep his parents' death a secret? Did he think she and the other girls would see him differently or something? He would always be an egotistical jerk, in Ichigo's eyes.

Now that she thought about it, she Shirogane had always avoided talk about his family—and everyone else's for that matter. Maybe he didn't like to think about it. Maybe it hurt too much for him to think about it. Maybe he just wanted to forget them all together.

_Shirogane Ryou_, she thought. Beautiful name, really. There was little about Shirogane that was not beautiful; his looks, attitude, clothes, and lifestyle were charming and lovely in a unique way. His smile—his true smile, not that devilish smirk he always gave Ichigo—was rarely seen, but secretly treasured by Ichigo when it appeared. She always assumed that he wasn't a complete brute, and his smile was almost an "I told you so" to back up this theory. And his eyes; can one describe the beauty they reveal? It took all of Ichigo's will power not to get lost in those deep blue orbs.

Ryou was…there was no word Ichigo could think of that could fully describe the young man. He was unordinary, she decided. No, extraordinary. She could spend a thousand years with the boy and never fully understand him.

These thoughts of Ryou aroused a feeling of excitement in Ichigo; an emotion that she had only felt a few times when with Aoyoma-kun. And yet the mere thought of her manager made her feel like this?

Ichigo mentally smacked herself in the head. _Ichigo, you baka-strawberry, you love Aoyoma-kun only! _He's_ the only beautiful person there is. Oh my god, what did I just call myself!_

The girl felt her face flush. She was glad she wasn't in her own body at the moment, because she was sure her cat ears would come out if she was. Ichigo tried to get her mind off of Shirogane by imagining her beloved Aoyoma-kun whisking her off to Paris, and telling her that she was the girl of his dreams, and that he could not live without her.

But for some strange reason, Aoyoma's dark chocolate eyes kept becoming as blue as the sea, and his brown hair became a lovely golden color.


	7. The Realization

A/N: I hate this chapter. It's too short, and I wrote it too quickly. Then again, it _is_ an update. I've been getting very lazy about writing this, especially since I'm presently obsessed with Fruits Basket.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. Review please: D

"…With that being said, we'll conclude our study for today. Class dismissed."

Without hesitation, Ichigo grabbed her things, jumped up, and sprinted towards the door. She had almost made it out when…

"Oh, Shirogane-san, I'd like to speak to you in private."

"NOOOOO!"

She fell to her knees and dropped everything she had, as the rest of the class walked out the door. Most of them stared at her as they went.

_WHY ME!_ she screamed in her mind. All she had wanted was to go to lunch with Aoyama-kun! Why couldn't anyone let this week be normal?

When everyone had gone, Legree spoke. "Shirogane-san, are you…um, feeling all right?"

"I'M FINE!" Before she could stop herself, her face was in her hands and she was bawling. _Why me? Why me? I just want to go to lunch…_

Legree stood over her, unsure of what to do. One thought played over and over in his mind: _What the hell is going on! _He stared in bewilderment at the young man as he contemplated the possibilities—none of them at all probable. This was understandable, since the cause of Shirogane's peculiar behavior was something beyond most people's imagination.

Ichigo continued her tantrum for several minutes. Once she had calmed down a bit, Legree said, "Perhaps, Shirogane-san, you should visit the nurse."

"Why! What good will the nurse do! She can't fix this! Aoyama probably gave his seat away to some other girl by now! HE'LL NEVER WANT TO SIT WITH ME AGAIN!" She temporarily went back to her crying.

"Well, uh, if you went to see the school councilor, then. He'll help you feel better, you know." Legree made sure to choose his words wisely, but he had never been one who easily comforted others. And his student was beginning to confuse him.

The girl sniffled a few times, forcing herself to calm down. Realizing that crying—or at least in front of Legree—would get her nowhere, she said, "No, I'm fine. Can I just go to lunch now, Legree-san?"

Legree nodded quickly, glad it was all over. He now regretted ever asking to speak to her.  
Ichigo made her way down the empty hallway, trying not to cry again. The events of the past day had finally sunk in, and it was too much for the girl to take. Aoyama will hate me, she thought, if I act anything like Shirogane. Despite her efforts, the tears returned to her eyes. She suddenly plopped down again as she imagined the horrible things Shirogane would say to Aoyama.

"Ichigo?"

Her sight was blurry, but she knew that voice (it was hard not to), and she knew only one person would know who she really was. "Go away, Shirogane," she said with less contempt and more squeakiness than she intended.

Of course, Ryou didn't listen to her. He had learned not long after the Mew Mew Project started that when a girl is crying, the best thing to do is to at least try to make her feel better—at least temporarily. Like Legree, however, comforting was not one of his strong points. So for a moment he simply stood there undecidedly.

Ichigo didn't even realize that he still stood by her side, so it was a surprise to her when he placed a hesitant hand on her shoulder.

"I-Ichigo…er, that is…is something wrong?"

The girl looked up at him and sniffled a few times. "OF COURSE THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG! WHY ELSE DO YOU THINK I'D BE CRYING, BAKA?"  
Ryou pulled away and blinked at her. Well, he couldn't just leave her there; then she'd get mad at him later, right? But what was he supposed to do? Sighing, he searched for the right words and then said, "I guess this is all because of our little switch?"

Surprisingly, Ichigo merely nodded and sniffled.

"Well…don't worry about it. It's all gonna be over in a week."

"Aowama-goon'll ape meeee!" she said between sobs.

After a moment, Ryou translated this as "Aoyama-kun will hate me." "No he won't," he

wearily answered.

"Yes he will!"

"No, he won't," Ryou insisted.

"Yes, he will!" argued Ichigo.

"No, he won't!"

"YES HE WILL!"

Ryou thought it immature to continue this argument, and Ichigo began bawling again when she realized he wouldn't answer. Frustration suddenly overcame him, and he shouted, "Oh, cut it out, you big baby!"

In surprise, Ichigo stopped crying.

"Do you think you're the only one with problems? This isn't easy for me, either!"

"Then…then why don't you tell Akasaka-san!"

"He doesn't need to know."

"Do you really think I'm that stupid! What are you hiding?"

"I'm giving you a raise, aren't I?"

"Like I care about the money! I just want—" She stopped herself.

Ryou raised an eyebrow. "You just want what?"

"N-Nothing." I just want you to care about me.

He was silent for a moment, then muttered something about the "baka-ichigo." To Ichigo's surprise, he sat down beside her. "Look, Ichigo…you just have to trust me. It's going to be okay." He smiled, his face turning slightly red from saying something so cheesy to someone he usually harassed.

Tears beginning to return, Ichigo suddenly hugged him. His face became very red as she cried on his shoulder. Awkwardly, he returned the embrace.

"Nobody cares about me and I can't talk to anyone about it and Aoyama says he's there but he isn't always but I just want to have a normal relationship with him and it isn't fair because sometimes I'm not sure if I really…" As if suddenly realizing what she was doing, Ichigo shut up and pulled away. "G-Gomen nasai," said she, face flushing.

Ryou quickly nodded and stood up. "I, um, that is, we should…get to lunch now."

Ichigo also stood, sniffled a few more times, and left for the cafeteria. Ryou remained in the hall, in thought.

Ichigo, Ichigo; how wrong you are. First she claimed to hate him, then she embraced him and told him her problems. "Nobody cares," she had said, but Ryou was there for her. "I can't talk to anyone about it," she had said, yet she poured out her heart to him (well, almost anyway).

The thing that bothered him most was the "Aoyama isn't always there." Could it be she really wasn't as in love with him as everyone thought? Could there be a possibility of being with her? Would she be willing to be with him?

Was she always going to torture him like this?

Ryou sighed and walked off in the direction Ichigo had gone.


End file.
